The present invention generally relates to the field of fiber optic cables, and more specifically, to a fiber optic cable splice and a method for fabricating the splice.
A typical optical cable splicing technique uses expensive metal cone terminators and urethane potting materials to isolate, secure, and protect the welded optical fiber. This type of splice results in a significant increase in the outside diameter of the cable in the vicinity of the splice, making storage and payout of the cable difficult. A further limitation of this type of splicing technique is that the urethane potting materials generate toxic fumes as they cure. In some environments, where a need exists to splice fiber optic cables, toxic fumes are not tolerable. Therefore, a technique for splicing fiber optic cable in a way which does not significantly increase the outside diameter of the cable, and which does not generate toxic fumes would be very desirable.